Despite decades of campaigning, progress continues to be glacial with conscious and unconscious biases leading to everything from poor female representation on company boards to a failure to achieve equal pay and a lack of work flexibility”.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
Unfortunately, complex human societies seem to require imagined hierarchies and unjust discrimination ~ Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind
As this article was being written, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was graciously hosting a thought-provoking international conference titled “Future Aviation Forum” in Riyadh from 9-11 May 2022. The Conference conducted a panel on “Women in Aviation” where the panelists comprised a group of erudite and eminently articulate women leaders in aviation. Their overall message was one of inspiration and hope for women but was unfortunately wrapped in the enigma of philosophical trepidation inside such inscrutable identifiers as “gender equality”; “equity” “subjectivity”; and “objectivity” which ricocheted back and forth from the stigma ascribed to a certain inarticulate premise of female inferiority which one panelist analogized as that which attaches to the proverbial “woman driver” slur by a male driver in his annoyance on the roads.
To the Panel’s credit the panelists echoed the message of Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook – that being confident and believing in her own self worth is essential to a woman’s achievement of her potential. A survey conducted by 132 companies at the behest of Ms. Sandberg’s company leanin.org found the following facts: “ Women are almost never picked for CEO positions because the odds are stacked against them. Last year, 90% of new CEOs were promoted or hired from other supervisory roles -- jobs that women rarely hold at senior levels. And all of those CEOs were men; while women are negotiating for raises and promotions -- and succeeding -- they're also penalized more than men; women who negotiate are 30% more likely than men to report being labeled "intimidating," "too aggressive" or "bossy"; women of color have the worst of it. While those women make up a fifth of the country's population, the study found they only hold 3% of top executive jobs; management promotion rates for women are abysmal. Nearly twice as many men are hired from the outside as directors, and more than three times as many are hired as senior vice presidents; women aren't getting good feedback from their employers, even though they're asking for it”. The study revealed that women are 20% less likely than men to say they get management feedback that helps them improve their performance.
The conundrum seems to be steeped in history and culture. As a starting point, one could quote Professor Harari further who says: “throughout most of history women were often seen as the property of family or community”. Regrettably, it is difficult to shed this misfortune even in the 21st Century. Simone de Beauvoir in her ground-breaking work of 1952 titled The Second Sex – The Classic Manifesto of the Liberated Woman offers some hope when she says: “ today, it is already less difficult for women to assert themselves…much more interesting are the insurgent females who have challenged this unjust society; a literature of protest can engender sincere and powerful works”.
The Guardian, in an article quoting Ann-Marie Slaughter – a distinguished academic and former advisor to the U.S. State Department - says: “ How many times has the women's movement believed it was approaching a tipping point in terms of gender parity in the world of business, only to see its hopes shattered?
Despite decades of campaigning, progress continues to be glacial with conscious and unconscious biases leading to everything from poor female representation on company boards to a failure to achieve equal pay and a lack of work flexibility”. Joe O’Keefe President and CEO of US investment firm Pax World Management said: "In different cultures it comes in different guises… but it is still oppression and inequality and is the great human rights issue and business issue of our time."
On March 8th – International Women’s Day - I wrote that every year on this day we acclaim International Women’s Day. The United Nations this year adopted the theme “ “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, which fully comports with Plato’s point made during the Classical period in Ancient Greece nearly 2500 years ago.
Plato said: “Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half” This only goes to demonstrate that the so called “male dominated” world has denied the equality of women for two and a half millennia. Seemingly, to make amends, The United Nations has made women’s equality and empowerment one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, calling it integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development, meaning that the contribution of women is absolutely necessary for the world to achieve sustainable development. True. But is that all? Well, no, says the United Nations and goes further: “Gender equality is a right. Fulfilling this right is the best chance we have in meeting some of the most pressing. challenges of our time—from economic crisis and lack of health care to climate change, violence against women and escalating conflicts”.
All this is incontrovertibly true, and thankfully we have at least a handful of world leaders, CEOs, and Hollywood movies like the Hunger Games and Wonder Woman to give us a glimpse of reality – that women can be as good as and even better in performance than men. But this misses an important point.
Women are often torn between the Cinderella-esque aspiration Jane Austen portrayed in novels such as Mansfield Park and Persuasion – of seeking the protection of an economically sound man - and being exploited by a domineering bully. In both these types lies a girl who grows up thinking the world is not for her. She remains silent when she is hurt - the best version of herself - and consistent across time and circumstances. As Colm Toibin says in The Testament of Mary “She sees herself as a victim, trapped by men determined to make a story of what she knows is not a story but her life”. The Hindu Goddess Saraswathi - Goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning.- embodies the best of women, a river of love rushing towards an ocean of eternity, gushing with boundless care for her young.
It is further said in the Rig Veda 2.41.16 that woman is portrayed by Sarasvatī: Best of mothers, the best of rivers, best of goddesses.
With all that has been said what remains now is to inquire whether woman should be a testament to man and his culture.
Dr. Abeyratne is former Coordinator of Air Transport and Senior Legal Counsel at the International Civil Aviation Organization. He currently teaches aviation law and policy at McGill University.
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